The only thing more brutally honest than a small child is a large crowd. With each individual finding anonymity in numbers, the boos or cheers that emerge reflect true feelings more accurately than any polygraph machine ever could.
A camera operator at the University of Missouri basketball game on Saturday night aimed at Michael Sam and projected his image on the screens above the court.
According to the Associated Press, the crowd not only cheered for Sam, but it gave him a standing ovation.
“Michael Sam stood up for Mizzou his entire career and we need to stand up for him,” Missouri fan Michelle Carmichael said.
While it’s not a shock that a Missouri crowd would zealously support one of its own, presence in a crowd provides ultimate cover for boos and jeers. And so the overwhelmingly positive reaction is encouraging -- and perhaps it’s a sign that welcoming Sam onto a given team will be anything but a distraction.
The added benefit will be that the team drafting Sam will instantly have thousands of fans in Missouri.